p2pnet - rss feed: Yahoo ponders DRM-free MP3s
p2pnet news | Music:- Yahoo says it’s in early discussions with the members of the Big 4 organised music cartel to offer “unprotected” MP3s for sale or for free as part of an ad-supported service.
This means it’s all-but a done deal.
Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG have already taken the plunge with Amazon and, "Yahoo hopes to launch the service this year," says Associated Press.
The MP3s would be free range, as they’ve been for years in the real world of online music which the Big 4 have desperately been trying to close down by suing their own customers, and using their wealth and power to kill anything which looks even vaguely like competition.
"Carrie Davis, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, said the company has often said it wants to offer music without copy protections and the subject has been part of its ongoing talks with record labels," says AP.
"But Davis denied that discussions with record labels on the matter have stepped up in recent weeks or that anything is imminent."
Last fall, Yahoo signed a licensing deal for user-created video content with Sony BMG, "that calls for the record company to receive a share of advertising revenue," says AP, adding representatives for the labels "declined to comment" on the mooted MP3 plans.
Yahoo’s China arm was recently found guilty of violating the copyrights on Big 4 product.
"Yahoo is one of the best-known international brands on the Internet, which runs its own legitimate music services all over the world, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan," said John Kennedy, who runs the Big 4’s IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry), of the case.
"Yet in mainland China, Yahoo is investing in and profiting from the widespread breach of intellectual-property rights."
Also See:
Associated Press - Yahoo Eyeing Online Music Service, January 23, 2008
found guilty - Yahoo China guilty of copyright violation, December 20, 2007
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
